US State Dept to ‘check out’ vicious attack on Palestinian athletes

Annie Robbins reports an exchange at the US State Dept Daily Press Briefing in an article in Mondoweiss concerning Israeli aggression against Palestinian sportspersons . The questioning was not exactly incisive nor the answers complete, but the exchange is on the record and hopefully the State Department can be made to follow this up.

QUESTION: I know you had addressed the excessive use of force in the occupied territories by Israeli soldiers in your Human Rights Report.

MS. [Jen] PSAKI: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: But there was a report that Israeli soldiers at checkpoints are targeting Palestinian soccer players, that they shoot them in the legs and so on. A number of them have been sent to hospitals. Do you have any comment on that or are you aware?

MS. PSAKI: I haven’t seen that. Obviously, we spoke to our concerns, again, in the same Human Rights Report about certain actions and behavior.